California Common or Steam Beer is a style that has its roots in California (shocking, I know) in the mid-1800s. Historically speaking, Steam Beer was a bad-tasting brew that "may be defined as a highly effervescent beer made by brewing lager yeasts at ale fermentation temperatures." (from Wikipedia).

California Common Beer varies in color from light to dark amber. The aroma usually has smells of caramel, grains and low hop notes. The taste follows the smell, and has caramel malt tastes along with minor hop bitterness. The feel should be medium. ABV ranged from 4% to 5.5%. IBUs are in the middle of the range at 35 to 45.

More from Wikipedia:

"Historic steam beer, associated with San Francisco and the U. S. West Coast, was brewed with lager yeast without the use of refrigeration. It was an improvised process, originating out of necessity, perhaps as early as the Gold Rush. It was considered a cheap and low-quality beer, as shown by references to it in literature of the 1890s and 1900s.

California Common Beer is a lager beer fermented at ale temperatures, and has little or no similarity to the Steam Beer of the past. There is a lot of speculation about where the name "Steam" came from, but "it is also possible that the name derives from "Dampfbier" (literally "steam beer"), a traditional German ale that was also fermented at unusually high temperatures and that may have been known to nineteenth-century American brewers, many of whom were of German descent."

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